Pharma

New Jersey initiates $2.6M retraining grant to stem big pharma brain drain

In a move to avoid losing unemployed workers from some of the state’s largest pharmaceutical […]

In a move to avoid losing unemployed workers from some of the state’s largest pharmaceutical companies to other states, New Jersey has pledged $2.6 million in federal grants for retraining in other industry sectors.

The Star-Ledger reported this week that the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development would provide up to $5,000 in education grants to former employees of Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ)Merck (NYSE: MRK), Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) and Roche who were laid off after 2010. The $2.6 million is an expansion of a grant program initiated for those who had worked at the pharmaceutical companies’ headquarters, but which had left out their satellite offices.

Here’s a link to the locations that were added.

A labor department spokesman told the Star Ledger: “We want to retain these bright people in New Jersey and get them into industry sectors that can use their talents.”

Pharmaceutical companies have laid off thousands of workers as they have shifted to outsourcing research and development functions using contract research organizations and other cost-cutting maneuvers.

Shares0
Shares0